


Sunday Garden

by RoyEdIsMyAesthetic



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Courtship, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fencing, Fluff, Gardens & Gardening, Homosexuality, M/M, Sexual Tension, lemonade, royed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 15:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9241307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyEdIsMyAesthetic/pseuds/RoyEdIsMyAesthetic
Summary: "I'm pretty good with my thrusts..." Roy Mustang stated, visibly smirking, "but... could you help me with my lunges, Fullmetal?"





	

****"I'm pretty good with my thrusts..." Roy Mustang stated, visibly smirking, "but... could you help me with my lunges, Fullmetal?"

"Aw, go screw yourself!" Edward spat back, throwing a glare at his raven-haired opponent who hid behind a fencing mask made of black metal mesh. "You're not in the best position to be spouting bullshit, Mustang!" he exclaimed swishing his fencing weapon in the air for emphasis, "I can come over there in a second and fuck you up!"

With a breathy chuckle, and a twinkle in his deep India ink eyes, Roy advanced and retreated back and forth in an easygoing way with his thin, flexible, rubber-tipped fencing weapon pointed at Edward's chest as the blond mirrored his movements in a linear motion, taking one step back when he took a step forward. Taking one step forward when he took a step back.

It was like a dance really, and decked in white canvas fencing jackets that shone almost blindingly like snow melting in the midday sun, the two moved back and forth on the concrete patio of Roy's secluded backyard. By no means was it the best of ballrooms, and by no means was it conventional either, but for the time being it satisfied the two dancers' needs. The ground was flat and even, and a tall wooden fence lined with climbing vines and aromatic blooms in shades of pastel pinks, purples, blues, and yellows, made the scene softer and more private.

A waltz for two.

Edward danced up on the balls of his feet, in a constant state of ready like a runner waiting for the crack of the gun, prepared to attack the air before him at any moment. The feel of the ground beneath his shoes, the position of his toes, his grip on the handle of his weapon hiding behind a polished metal guard, his neat, clean footwork... that was all forgotten. It was second nature rather than a thought, it was a feeling that could be easily ignored as he concentrated on the movement of his opponent's guard, which in turn, would tell him the compact and efficient movement of his opponent's blade.

Roy quickly beat his own blade against Edward's, testing the young man's waters and seeing what reaction he would get from it. A beat was returned with the same amount of force, followed by a casual extension of the arm and the blade in hand.

Ed was too far away to actually hit the target of Roy's chest, and he knew it. It was all a casual, playful wasting of time. Nothing was at stake except for the elbow room to boast about a victory for a day or two.

The two men continued to absentmindedly move back and forth, occasionally exchanging beats, parries, and feints, all falling short of their target. The sound of metal hitting metal sent the chickadees on the nearby lawn rustling their tail feathers and seeking shelter on higher ground, whether that be in the open air of a cloudless crystal blue sky or in the soft green leaves of a thornless honey locust upon whose branches a stray tabby cat napped, safe from Alphonse Elric's clutches.

"What's the score?" Roy called as he made a feint to Edward's hip. "I forgot!"

" _La Belle -_ the beautiful touch!" Ed announced with enthusiasm, taking a step back and making a lunging attack to Roy's upper torso. "Score's four to four!" 

"I thought we were going to ten!" Roy stated, parrying and blocking the blow. Instead of making an easy counterattack, he simply took a languid retreat, expanding the space between them as they began to move in a lazy back and forth rhythm once more. 

"If you want a rematch after I get the last touch, then sure!" Edward said with a grin, locking eyes with Roy. "We can go again!"

And then it came, knitted almost seamlessly into the what seemed to be a normal single advance- the perfect extension of the arm and the blade which were now one, both cutting through the air, pulling Roy's body to the target on an invisible string, and deepening with a perfect lunge, the blade bending into a high arch as it hit fabric at Edward's left arm. 

Edward let his fencing stance falter as Roy went back into his on guard position. 

"My chest is the target, not my arms, stupid!" Edward said with a smirk, putting a hand to his hip and letting the tip of this blade rest upon the concrete ground. "Besides, you need to straighten out that blade. It's starting to bend a bit in the wrong direction..."

Without a word, Roy stood up straight and inspected his fencing weapon. Taking the more flexible end of the blade- the foible- in his bare hand, he carefully worked at bending the blade back into the right position.

"Don't fix it in your hand..." Ed said from behind his mask, wrinkling his nose as if in disgust, "you're gonna get a metal splinter in your palm that way."

Roy paused, and then with a condescending half smile, he shook his head slightly. "Well it's nice to know that you care..." he said sarcastically, setting the tip of the blade on the ground.

Stooping down slightly with his hand still gripping the handle of the weapon, he carefully set his foot on the upper part of the blade, causing its length to bend slightly against the concrete below.

"Yeah, it's a wonder! I know you're trying to hustle me here, old man, your blade's longer than mine. You've got a size five and I've got a size two!"

"Well be happy it's not a zero," Roy stated calmly, lifting his blade and inspecting it to make sure that it was straight enough. "Anyway, it's not about the size of your sword- it's about how you fence with it."

With a frown of disapproval, Edward cast his eyes away from Roy and took his mask off of his face, tucking it under one arm and shaking his bangs back into their rightful place. Still wearing a frown, he silently looked out over the yard and the garden, suddenly aware of the heat of the sun against his shoulders, the whoosh of cars zipping past on the nearby city street, and the peonies on the fringes of the garden, blooming a lipstick-pink, or perhaps the color of his subtle blush when he wondered if he was being looked at. 

And in a certain odd epiphany, he realized the purpose of... of  _everything._  And additionally, he concluded that being looked at and admired in the first place would bring him a strange sort of satisfaction, and that was nothing to be ashamed of. 

He was being courted after all. Even if it was being done in a secretive, and not to mention very subtle, manner.

"Ed?"

"Hm?" Edward hummed curtly, turning back to a still masked Roy as he was tugged back into the present.

"You were staring of into space," the raven-haired man stated, leaning on his weapon as if it were a cane, "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing, it's just... I was thinking that this all is just very... out of the blue. As you know, I haven't fenced with someone like this since... well since Hughes was still around teach me. I'm out of practice. So the question is... why did you invite me over today?"

Roy shifted his weight and cocked his head to the side, taking a moment to mull over an answer. 

"Well... I was bored," he finally replied with a dismissive shrug. "And besides it's my day off. And as you know, those come few and far between."

"That's like a contradiction," Edward deadpanned.

"What? Few and far between?"

"No, you say that you'll take anyone you can terrorize because you're bored... and then you go and say that you wanted to spend your precious free time with me."

"Like I said... I was bored," Roy said, taking off his fencing mask. Fingers combed through bangs, pulling them back and then them fall over his forehead again. 

"Yeah, you were _'bored'_..." Ed parroted, rolling his eyes and making an air quote with his free hand. "Anyway, it's getting hot out. Let's stop here."

With a nod of approval, Roy lifted one hand and began to undo the zipper of his snowy white fencing jacket. "For once, I won't argue with you. Good bout anyway..."

Edward set down his weapon and furtively watched as Roy took off his jacket, the fabric underarm protector underneath, and then finally the molded plastic plate that was the chest protector. Ed waited until all of these items were placed upon the ground before speaking.

"Can you help me get out of this jacket?" Edward asked quietly. "It zips up in the back if you hadn't noticed."

And even though Roy was aware that the blond was fully capable of unzipping his own jacket, he replied with a simple, "Of course."

He couldn't help but hold his breath for a moment as Edward blinked his golden eyes and then hesitantly turned around, slowly reaching up his flesh hand and carefully guiding his golden braid over one shoulder, exposing the vulnerable, pale nape of his neck in a sweet surrender.

To Roy's surprise, the blond trusted him enough to stay perfectly still as he tenderly smoothed back wispy flyaway hairs before taking the metal zipper between his pale fingers, languidly drawing it down over the plain of Edward's back and then going down on one knee so he could finally undo it at the bottom, ending where is back ended.

"...Done," Roy whispered, slowly standing back up to his feet.

He absentmindedly slipped his hands into his pant pockets as Edward turned around, his blond braid swishing back and assuming its usual position over his neck. As Ed looked back at Roy with lips slightly parted, he let the palm of his flesh hand rest over his heart, like he was protecting it or keeping it from flying out of his chest like the chickadees that fluttered about in the corner of the garden. But either way, the small subconscious action helped portray a sort of... sincerity.

"Thanks," Ed whispered, keeping his hand to his chest.

A gentle breeze toyed with Roy and Ed's hair, carrying with it the sweet smell of the soft yellow jonquils that dipped elegantly over the canvas of English ivy in the corner of the garden. A bee buzzed by and landed atop Roy's discarded fencing mask while crickets conversed amongst one another in the shelter of the lawn's swaying grasses.

"Lemonade?" Roy offered.

One corner of Edward's mouth turned upward, forming a gentle, crooked smile.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

Not too long after, Edward was out of his uniform, and he was sitting back on a cushioned floral-patterned sofa in an outdoor seating area that was placed upon a patio connected to the back door of the house. Sheltering the space was an old wooden pergola upon which a twisting red grape vine grew, dangling down in places and proudly showing off the, quite literal, fruits of its labor while patches of soft yellow light filtered through, dancing and swirling about on the the tile floor.

"Ice?" Roy suddenly questioned, poking his head out of the door leading to the kitchen.

"What do you think?!" Edward groaned, fanning his face with one hand.

"Ice it is..." Roy mumbled, slowly retreating and disappearing behind the cover of the doorway. "... _diva_ ," he muttered.

"I heard that, bastard!" Ed shouted back, only pretending to be angry.

A moment later, Roy returned with a metal tray upon which balanced two tall glasses of lemonade and a pitcher for refills. The tray was set upon the wooden coffee table in front of Ed, and Roy sat himself on the opposite side of the outdoor couch before handing the blond his glass.

Perspiration from the frosted glass dribbled over Ed's fingers as he took it in hand, the ice cold wetness running down the length of his forearm and sending goosebumps breaching for air as a shiver of pleasure ran down his spine. As soon as the glass was touched to his parched lips, Edward's eyelids fluttered closed and he was sent humming with content, feeling the perfect fruity blend of sweet and sour as it traveled down his throat, finally settling into his stomach.

Golden eyes turned to the raven-haired military man who sat less than a yard away, bending over at the waist and resting his forearms on his knees as he studied the twenty year old across from him.

"Is it good?" Roy questioned, looking on with a calm, but somewhat expectant expression. "I didn't make it with too much sugar, did I?"

Edward set down his glass. "Eh!" he said with a dismissive nod of the head. "Not bad. It's better than your point control at least..."

The Fullmetal Alchemist paused when he saw Roy quickly tear his eyes away and look down at the floor, almost as if he didn't want their gazes to meet. Without a word, Edward blinked his eyes and bowed his head also, wetting his lips and finding a certain discomfort in their silence. The sort of silence when the want and the need for it to end is there, and yet, for reasons unknown... you hold yourself back.

You suffocate yourself in your desire.

"Roy, listen..." Edward began in a soft voice, looking at the older man out of the corner of his eye. "The shortest distance between you and what you want is like... like an arrow. Or a bullet shot from Hawkeye's gun- it's a straight line, a straight... _simplicity_. You can flail and slash your sword around all you want, but the fastest way that you'll get to the target is by driving the metal straight through, understand? I'm not saying that I'd like it _particularly_... but if you brought me here in an attempt to forward our relationship, to... to _seduce me_ with kind gestures if you may... then seduce me, Roy. Take what you want. And don't hide behind anything, because that isn't like you, or at least... it isn't like you when you're around me. Quit playin' around and score the stupid point, because I know you could do it quite easily if you wanted to. "

It was then that the chime of a grandfather clock was heard from inside the house, a chorus of bells followed by a dramatic counting off the hours which had passed.

"Strike of twelve..." Edward finally said to himself, turning around in his seat as if the clock were standing right there behind him. "Well doesn't time fly..."

"Sunday," Edward heard Roy say gently.

Ed slowly turned, settling himself so that he was facing Roy, sitting sideways with his feet upon the flowery couch cushions. "What about Sunday?" he questioned with narrowed eyes.

"Come back next Sunday," Roy repeated in the same gentle tone. 

As he spoke those words, he could almost feel his heart swelling within his chest at the pure... _joy of the idea_.   And yet... it didn't come with the sort of satisfaction that he truly wanted.

Come back next Sunday...

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Edward questioned with an amused smile as he brought the half empty glass of lemonade back up to his lips. Crystal ice cubes clinked against each other at the bottom of the glass.

"Yes."

"No," Edward replied with a breathy chuckle.

"No?"

"I said no, Mustang. I won't come back on Sunday," Edward clarified in a quiet voice, drinking the last of his lemonade with a smirk. The empty glass was then set upon the coffee table- a tiny glass slipper left on the castle steps. Eyes turned back to Roy, the stars captured within them almost twinkling with playful laughter.

 _"Tuesday then?"_ Roy whispered, moving closer to Ed, closing the distance between them. 

He'd moved forward, and to his surprise, and his delight, Edward didn't move away.

 _"No..."_ Ed whispered back with a soft smile and a shake of the head. _"Not Tuesday either..."_

Edward didn't draw away when Roy placed the palm of one hand atop his right hand and then placed another atop the left. Roy's fingers then stroked skin and traveled downward and slid around to wrap firmly around wrists. Edward found himself slowly leaning back and laying down against the cushions whose fabric whispered him quiet as Roy drew his hands back, pinning them down at either side of his head as his heart began to speed within his chest.

 _"Tomorrow..."_ Roy breathed with heavy lidded eyes as he came forward so that lips hovered mere inches away from lips. He propped himself up over Edward on all fours with one knee shoved into the space between Edward's legs, his dark bangs dripping down to greet him.

 _"No, Roy..."_ Edward purred, with a small smile, _"I won't... I won't come tomorrow..."_ he panted.

He felt warm- so warm... Like the sun was shining on his neck, his shoulders, his cheeks, his everything.

Roy's dark bangs dripped down to meet the skin at Edward's forehead, gently brushing against it. And Roy paused right then and there, just when their lips were just barely touching. They were breathing the same air, the oxygen making them dizzy. _"Next month..."_ he cooed, _"Come back next month; next year..."_

 _"No..."_ Edward panted, eyes fluttering closed as fingers intertwined. _"No..."_ he repeated more quietly.

A silence passed, and Ed's mouth fell slightly open as Roy dipped his head down and began to gently leave a trail of kisses up the side of his neck, the slight perspiration left behind growing cold in his absence as a moan caressed the shell of his ear. " _Right here... right now._ I want you now, so I'll take you now- that's what I've always wanted."

"Simply stated?"

"I want you."

 

 

 

 

Touché. Well done...


End file.
